a sad and difficult day, after a beautiful fall

It leaves me nearly speechless, this latest bit of brutality committed by a young man with weapons and body armor in an elementary school. And, after a lifetime of avoiding the issue which ruined my ex-husband's political career, I think that I will make sensible gun control my dying issue.
Some background: I grew up where guns were not present though they were all around in Orono, Maine. People would always bring my father some venison, or moose, or even bear meat every fall, because he did not hunt though many of the men he worked with in the woods, did hunt. I went to Girl Scout camp, and then to a bigger summer camp in Sargentville, Maine, and learned to shoot a 22. I shoot well still.
My former husband learned to shoot in Vermont, and while he did not hunt, he did own a left-handed 22, and eventually, a shotgun that I gave him to keep the raccoons out of the chicken pen. When, however, he was elected to Congress, on a whim and without talking with either his staff or me, he signed on as a sponsor of a semi-automatic gun control bill. It was a decision with terrible consequences for him, and nearly for me and our 3 sons, although in the end I had to support his position.
In large measure, I made the decision to move to DC because of the harassment that both my sons in public schools, and myself at our home in the country, suffered. While nothing bad happened in the end, people would drive by the house and point their fingers at me. People watching us in parades would do the same. In the schools, several teachers spoke ill of my sons' father.The State Police had to be called one night after several threatening phone calls were received.
So, we moved and all of a sudden I understood the difference between guns used for hunting, and guns that are used primarily for killing people. My youngest son was 10 when we moved to DC. He and I were quite used to watching the evening news while eating supper. As a politician, his father was rarely home for dinner, and was often in Vermont, on TV news, so we were used to watching. In DC, however, David stopped watching the news. It was all about all the crime in DC rather than politics, and I began to see the difference in guns.
It has been impossible to articulate that difference with the NRA all over the issue with threats and money, and too much bull. But it is time to get on the bandwagon to stop this killing. We do know what to do - to control access to all guns reponsibly, to sell only after background checks are done nationally. Perhaps we should also restrict access to body armor also, since these latest killers all wore lots of body armor. But this is not Afghanistan! though we seem to be eager to let our young men own the weapons of war here at home.

It is time to make some changes! Please!